


A Beautiful Rose For My Girl

by Alexilulu



Series: A Garden for Traitors [1]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: F/F, Love Confessions, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2019-01-16 03:36:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12334725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexilulu/pseuds/Alexilulu
Summary: An offhanded remark by Haru comes to dominate Ann's thoughts.





	A Beautiful Rose For My Girl

**Author's Note:**

> I can't be the only person who saw some of Haru and Ann's mementos dialogue and lost my shit at how gay it could be. I mean, come on, look at this!  
> https://joker-arewethereyet.tumblr.com/post/162559226861

“You know...flowers are always the answer to my heart.” The low rumble of Mona’s engine is cut through by Haru’s sudden announcement coming from the back of the van. After her proclamation, she returns to reading a field guide on raising various types of vegetable in your own apartment. Ryuji snickers to himself, turning around in his seat to face her. 

“That’s so mundane it ends up being kind of cute, Noir. You grow your own, then?”

“Oh, no.” She doesn’t look up from her book as the van rattles down the tracks of Mementos. “I’ve never actually successfully raised a flower worth mentioning...they’re much more delicate than vegetables, and quite hard in some cases. Roses especially are very temperamental plants, the slightest problem in the pH of it’s soil can kill it in a flash.” Ryuji, not expecting such a detailed response, frowns and turns back around, nudging Panther with his elbow until she turns away from staring out the window and trying desperately not to think about Haru saying something so ridiculously cute just straight out.  _ Thank god for this stupid cat mask… _

“Hey, Panther. Whadda ya think about flowers? You like em?” She makes a noncommittal noise and Ryuji groans. “C’mon, you’re a girl, right? Girls love flowers, what’s your favorite flower? It’s roses, right? Y’got that whole ‘pretty, but don’t touch’ thing going on like them too!” He nudges her again, and Ann snaps figuratively and literally, holding out a hand and snapping her fingers to form a small, brightly flickering flame right next to her face with Carmen’s help. Ryuji flinches back and shouts, which draws Makoto’s attention from the passenger seat in front of them.

“Hey, what did I say about no powers in the van! Ryuji, apologize!” Ann extinguishes the flame by clenching her hand into a fist, going back to looking out the window at the shadows running away from their speeding vehicle.

“Jeez, sorry, sorry! Didn’t know you hated roses so much.” Ryuji leans back in the seat and folds his arms across his chest while Futaba snickers next to him.

“She doesn’t hate roses, dingus.”

“Then what the hell was with the lightshow, then? And hey, she didn’t apologize for threatening me!” Ryuji kicks the back of the front bench seat, and Makoto groans.

“Panther, please apologize to Skull, I’m trying to concentrate and so is Joker.” Ann sighs, rolling her eyes.

“Sorry, Skull! God, he’s like a little kid.” She looks over at him, her chin still propped up in her hand from staring out the window. “I love roses, I’m just crabby. Sorry.”

“Oh, Panther, do you like roses too? I love them so much, such a beautiful flower. I’d love to receive some someday…” Haru sighs contentedly, and Ann flinches, the blush that was mostly obscured by her mask becoming evident to Ryuji next to her for a split second before she could hide it again by turning away.

 

\----------------------------------

 

**Ryuji - 2:03 AM:** hey, are you alright? havent seen you snap like that since middle school

**Ann - 2:04 AM:** why are u so dumb dude

**Ryuji - 2:04 AM:** ok forget it, i’ll go fuck myself then

**Ann - 2:05 AM:** tmi.

**Ann - 2:06 AM:** do you know anyone who grows flowers? Like somebody does the gardening at school right

**Ann - 2:10 AM:** i know you’re not asleep you dickbag

**Ann - 2:15 AM:** I’M SORRY OKAY I’M DEALING WITH SOME STUFF AND I TOOK IT OUT ON YOU

**Ryuji - 2:15 AM:** thank u

**Ann - 2:16 AM:** answer the question who does the gardening at school

**Ryuji - 2:18 AM:** uhh i think it’s just first years? I don’t know anybody

**Ryuji - 2:18 AM:** why is this such a big deal to you

**Ann - 2:19 AM:** you wouldn’t understand

**Ryuji - 2:19 AM:** c’mon

**Ann - 2:20 AM:** nope

**Ryuji - 2:20 AM:** I’m sending this whole conversation to Haru, i’m sure she knows somebody 

**Ann - 2:21 AM:** I WILL END YOU, SAKAMOTO

**Ryuji - 2:21 AM:** i knew it lmao

**Ryuji - 2:30 AM:** it’s not a big deal girl, you got a lady crush, i made out w akira in the weight room after P.E. yesterday for like, an hour

**Ann - 2:30 AM:** you what

**Ryuji - 2:31 AM:** i’m not repeating myself!! anyway what are you trying to do

**Ann - 2:32 AM:** spending a lot more money than i expected to learn all the ways plants can die and waste my time

**Ryuji - 2:33 AM:** lmfao. girl you got it bad don’t you

**Ann - 2:33 AM:** THEY ARE THE ANSWER TO HER HEART RYUJI, YOU HEARD HER

**Ryuji - 2:35 AM:** alright i get it i get it. look, i don’t know who does the stuff for the school, but I got the next best thing

**Ryuji - 2:35 AM:** a boyfriend

**Ann - 2:35 AM:** forget it

**Ryuji 2:36 AM:** what are you afraid of, dude does not care about like. Anything

**Ann - 2:36 AM:** this is embarrassing enough with you knowing, i’m not telling him too! I’ll do it on my own, and if i find out you told him i’m telling everyone why you dye your hair

**Ryuji - 2:37 AM:** you wouldn’t dare.

**Ann - 2:37 AM:** try me dude

* * *

 

The first planting is a disaster. She starts out with something small, a miniature rose clipping ordered from Amazon, keeping it in her windowsill and watering it regularly, but the damn thing wilts inside 3 days and by the end of the week, it’s gone. She knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but it’s still demoralizing. A bit of research and angry venting to Ryuji leads her to the problem; roses need far too much humidity, and the heater in her house was sucking all the moisture out of the air.

The next planting is outside, in a small patch of dirt in the back patio. Potting the damn thing took hours of carving at the hard-packed soil with a spade, trowel and eventually giving up and calling Ryuji to put some muscle into the work, until the hole is big enough to fit the root ball into with the extra room RoseLuvr420 recommended in their youtube video. That rose makes it 10 days before giving up the ghost. More research ends in her buying a pH testing kit online and finding out the soil around her house is insanely acidic, far beyond what roses are capable of surviving in.  _ Stupid picky ass flower. Why can’t I just grow something easy, damn it? _

The third planting is in a special pot Ann bought just for the occasion, along with a 15 kilo bag of special soil Ryuji carried through 3 train transfers, and this time the potting goes much quicker and with less bruises and cuts to explain to Akira the next time they meet up for a Mementos trip. It makes it 4 days. The first frost of late October kills it in the night, leaving Ann despondent when she gets up at 5 in the morning to water it before getting ready for class. She skips school that day, spending the entire time on her phone searching for at-home greenhouses to protect it from the chill and give it the humidity it needs. She also spends most of the day threatening and complaining to Ryuji via text.

* * *

**Akira - 3:02 PM:** hey, are you actually out sick or is something up? Ryuji’s being weird when I asked him

**Ann - 3:03 PM:** i’m fine, why

**Akira - 3:03 PM:** just wondering

**Akira - 3:04 PM:** you know about me and Ryuji, right. He told you

**Ann - 3:06 PM:** I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about

**Akira - 3:06 PM:** uh huh. Look, if i stole your crush, you can just tell me and i’ll apologize, this doesn’t have to be weird

**Ann - 3:06 PM:** i’m gonna puke

**Ann - 3:06 PM:** what made you think that I like ryuji. Ever. 

**Akira - 3:08 PM:** kids pull the hair of girls they like, i figure it’s the same thing in reverse

**Akira - 3:08 PM:** I’ll just take your response as a no then

**Ann - 3:09 PM:** please

**Ann - 3:09 PM:** Anyway i’m fine I’m just being mopey about stuff

**Akira - 3:10 PM:** anything you want to talk about?

**Ann - 3:11 PM:** do you know anything about roses?

**Akira - 3:12 PM:** oh, loads. You know you’re supposed to plant those in spring, right?

**Ann - 3:12 PM:** god DAMN it

**Akira - 3:12 PM:** Yeah. You might need to rethink your strategy

**Ann - 3:13 PM:** my strategy is ‘grow a rose and give it to someone’, i thought being direct would be easy

**Akira - 3:15 PM:** I mean look. A rose is a rose. One you grew is great but one you gave is still very good. You can shower them in roses once it’s the right season to actually grow them.

**Akira - 3:16 PM:** you know, Haru uses the roof because it gets good light but too much b/c of the A/C units, and the condensation from the units in the summer keeps it wet enough for most anything you would want to grow.

**Akira - 3:17 PM:** just a thought.

**Ann - 3:20 PM:** thanks. Hey did you want to hear why ryuji dyes his hair

**Akira - 3:21 PM:** uhhhhhhh...no? Look, don’t blame him. You’re just really obviously crushing and only a girl so completely immune to normal person thoughts like Haru wouldn’t notice.

**Akira - 3:21 PM:** Just go buy her like one rose and give it to her! You’ll probably kill her if you get a dozen, though, I don’t think she’s had that much affection at once ever.

**Ann - 3:22 PM:** why are you so good at this

**Akira - 3:23 PM:** magic probably. I do steal hearts for fun and profit

* * *

 

The logistics of meeting a girl on a rooftop with a rose are unbelievable to Ann, once she looks back on it. She can’t exactly keep a rose on her all day at class, so she has to leave the school, be  _ seen  _ leaving the school by everyone, go buy a rose wherever the hell she can find a place selling roses in October (luckily, there’s a very convenient flower shop in Shibuya’s underground mall where a very kind boy with incredibly fluffy hair and dorky glasses happens to work in the afternoons), get back to the school, inevitably be  _ seen  _ going back to school  _ with a rose clutched in both hands for dear life _ , and get to the rooftop, past everyone who is still in the school. All in all, an unbelievably harrowing experience.

And she hasn’t even said a word to Haru yet!

She’s on her knees, pulling potatoes out of the raised planters (she realizes now that those planters had been here when they were using the roof to plan out the Kamoshida heist...had she known about them that far back?) with small grunts of effort, dumping the chains of tubers haphazardly into a burlap sack next to her. Watching her, Ann is struck by just how beautiful Haru is at any given moment. _She’s like...angelic._ Even when she’s caked in dirt, visibly sweating in the autumn chill. _This is so ridiculous. She’s working, what is she even going to think when I interrupt her with a_ flower _of all things?_ As Ann starts turning on her heel to leave, her phone chirps angrily in her bag, startling the both of them. Haru scrambles to her feet, eyes lighting up on seeing Ann. Luckily, the way she turned is shielding the rose from view, so she’s spared at least _that_ immediate embarrassment.

“Oh, Ann! I didn’t hear you there, I hope you weren’t waiting for me long! What brings you up here?” Ann turns back to her, transferring the rose in her hands such that it’s hidden behind her back in one hand while she waves with the other.

“O-oh, hi Haru! I, uh, no, I was just visiting, visiting you, was all.”  _ God, her smile… _ Even covered in dirt and little chunks of potato leaves, she’s gorgeous as hell. Even with a smudge of dirt on her nose and cheeks...No, it’s making her even cuter, somehow. Like a little orphan in a movie or something.  _ Okay, do  _ not  _ ever make that comparison ever again. _

“How nice of you! Come, sit with me.” She grabs Ann’s free hand with her own grubby palm, dragging her over to the raised planter and squatting down where she had been sitting, leaving Ann standing behind her. “I’ll just be a minute, I want to finish pulling these. How was your day, Ann?” She sets about her work again, yanking more potatoes out seemingly effortlessly, tossing them down next to her. Ann kneels down next to her, setting her bag on her other side and the rose tucked behind it it so it’s obstructed from Haru’s view. 

“Oh, uhh, fine. Just another day, right? Class, y’know.” She laughs, immediately cursing herself for how fake and high-pitched it comes out. 

“Ahh, yes, another day. And such a beautiful one, at that.” She wipes her brow with the sleeve of her track suit, leaving a fresh smudge of dirt there and looking up at the sky. “I love days like this. It always seems like the best days are bright. Especially when I have someone to spend it with.”

“Yeah, me too.” Ann grimaces to herself, then looks down at her hands. Her manicure’s pretty old at this point…”Here, let me help you, we can get this done faster if there’s two of us. I just pull it up, right?” She grabs hold of a potato’s stalk, yanking and looking shocked when it doesn’t budge an inch. She tries again, seizing it with both hands, and it shifts slightly. Putting all of her weight into it, Ann tears the potato free in a spray of dirt, sending herself toppling backwards onto her back. Mercifully, the potato lands next to her.

“Oh my! Are you okay, Ann?” Haru leans over into her vision, taking Ann’s hand in her own while she checks her face for bruises. “You look flushed, do you think you’re bleeding anywhere?” Ann sits up slowly, her blush expanding until her ears are as red as her cheeks. 

“I-I’m fine! Just embarrassed, haha!” Haru brushes dirt off of Ann’s coat, and nods to herself. 

“Well, that was quite spectacular, Ann, but if it’s okay with you, I’ll handle the rest, okay?” Her dazzling smile does only a little to reduce how mortified Ann feels. She picks up the potato Ann pulled and sets it in the bag. “I would be mortified if you got hurt on my account.” 

Ann nods, and Haru squeezes her hand gently before returning to the potatoes.  _ Idiot. She said she’s lifted a 30 kilo bag of soil on her own, of course she’s making it look easy! God, her arms must be unbelievable to do that...No, no, calm down, damn it!  _ Ann pinches her cheek, grumbling to herself while Haru finishes the rest of the potatoes off, stuffing them into the bag and dusting her hands off. 

“There, all done. I’ll scrub these tomorrow, so let’s-” Haru looks over at Ann, pausing. “Oh, here, hold still, Ann. You’ve got some dirt on your cheek.” Ann freezes as Haru pivots herself to face her, leaning in close and squinting to wipe something off Ann’s face with her thumb. Her hand lingers, the feeling of her palm against Ann’s cheek is warm like sunshine.  _ She’s so close. Just...Ann. If you don’t do this now, you’re never gonna do anything. _ Steeling herself, Ann puts her hand over Haru’s on her cheek and uses the other to grab her by the shoulder, shoving their lips together in a dirt-caked, clumsy kiss that feels like it goes on forever. When they part, Haru’s eyes are wide, then she starts giggling. “A-Ann, you’ve more dirt on your face. I s-suppose that’s probably my fault, isn’t it?” Ann smiles, giggling with her until they both look at each other again, the weight of what just happened settling onto both of them. 

“I uh, I got you something, Haru. Hang on, where did-” Ann gropes around her bag, pulling the rose up and clutching it between both hands. “I uh, you said that flowers were the answer to your heart, so I…god, this is so stupid. Here.” She holds it out with both hands, looking away.  _ Please don’t say you’re straight, don’t say you’re straight, don’t say you’re straight… _

Haru plucks it from her hand delicately, her soft smile breaking into a huge, incandescent grin that feels like it could light up the city. “Oh, Ann, I love it.” She sets it on top of the bag of potatoes and wraps her arms around Ann, crushing the air from her lungs with a much too earnest hug that ends in Ann caked in even more dirt and potato bits.  _ Well, I guess that answers the question about her arms… _ Haru releases her, still beaming. “I guess I was a little obvious when I said that, wasn’t I?”

“I...wait, were you trying to hint to me?” Ann laughs nervously, brushing her pigtails back.

“Oh, yes! I...this is quite silly, but...You always say a ‘beautiful rose has thorns’ when you’re... _ dominating _ a shadow, and…” Haru covers her face with her hands, giggling again. “I couldn’t help but feel incredibly attracted to you in that moment. Such a beautiful rose you are, Ann. How embarrassing!”

“I...wow...I was trying to learn how to grow roses, but-”

“Oh, it’s the wrong season for that, silly. But that’s very sweet of you.”

“Yeah, I figured that out eventually. So, uh, I guess this is like, a promise rose, then? That says I’m gonna grow more roses for you. A lot more roses, probably.”

“Oh, Ann, that’s wonderful! And so very cute, too. I can show you how to build a planter, and my special fertilizer mix, and…” She stops herself, laughing. “I’m sorry, I’m just a little overwhelmed. And excited.”

“Do...does that mean you like me, too?” Haru looks stunned, then laughs again and takes Ann’s hand.

“Of course it does! I kissed you back, didn’t I? And that ‘beautiful rose’ line, too...”

“W-well, yeah, but, still…” Ann blushes, dropping her gaze. Haru squeezes her hand, and Ann looks back up at her. “Anyway. It’s getting really cold up here, right?”

“Oh, yes, it is. Let’s get you cleaned up and I can change, then we can…” She shrugs. “See where the afternoon takes us?” Haru gets to her feet, pulling Ann up with her with surprising ease.

“That sounds great.” Ann grabs her bag and bumps her hip into Haru’s, who laughs and returns the gesture before heading downstairs into the school together, the rose clasped between both of their hands.


End file.
